It was hot!

I wonder if there is anyone reading my blog who isn't on Facebook.  I don't know if I should blog about something that has already been on Facebook or not.  So, sorry if I'm repeating myself.  I came home Thursday afternoon to find the house temperature at 84, the thermostat set at 80 and no cold air coming through the floor vents.  The fan was running, but not the compressor (or whatever it is) outside.  It was just sitting there, silent.  I was afraid that having just the fan running would damage the system, as I assumed that on the cool setting, the equipment would keep trying to turn on.  Turns out I was wrong.  Anyway I got on the phone and called all the A/C repair places in the local yellow pages.  The soonest any of them could come out was Monday!  I was very unhappy at the thought of no cooling until then!  Anyway, I spent the rest of the afternoon in the basement, which stays nice and cool in the summer.  It was very comfortable down there and I was planning to sleep there as well.  I actually vacuumed the floor and got rid of the cobwebs that were lurking (with or without spiders) in the corners of the room.  Luckily, we got some rain and it cooled off considerably.  I was able to open windows upstairs and get my bedroom cool enough for sleeping.  Friday AM, one of the A/C companies called me back and said they could come that day!  I was delighted.  The repairman came.  He turned the system on, turned the setting down and went down stairs to look at the equipment.  Checked the blower - no problem there.  Went outside and presto! the unit came on!!  He checked the compressor and said it was ok.  What must have happened was that BG&E had turned off the power to the compressor.  I get a discount on my electricity by allowing them to do this during times of high power usage.  Usually this only lasts half an hour or less, but I think this time it was for a longer period.  Of course I wasn't home to know when it was turned off.  If I had left the system on, it would have come back on by itself.  I had no idea that there was a gadget on the compressor allowing them to do this.  Now, I'm rethinking the whole deal.  The money I save from allowing this probably doesn't make up for the $110 fee I had to pay to get the repairman to come out.  At least now I know to expect this kind of thing when we have such hot weather.  It was an expensive lesson.

Not much else is new.  I have to work in the hospital gift shop this afternoon, filling in for someone.  Usuallly, I don't do this on weekends, but the new manager called me about something else and asked, so I agreed.  Hard to turn down a personal request like that.  He's a good manager and I like him.  It won't be a real hardship to go over there for 4 hours, but I do hope they have the A/C fixed.  Thursday (my usual day to work there) It was very hot in the shop.  Probably will be that way today.  I can't wear much less clothing that I already to when I work there - capri pants and a t-shirt.  We have jackets we are supposed to wear, but no one will mind if I'm not wearing mine.

Next week will be a bit busy.  I have to get an adjustment on my hearing aids.  Now that I have a flute and am practicing, I need to get the aids re-tuned so that they don't produce an echo when I play.  I can take them out, but I'd prefer to get them adjusted.  Hopefully, she can do this.

The gift shop manager and I are going to Rockville one day to check out a store that sells some of the items we stock in the jewelry cases.  He and I had a difficult time find a day and time when we are both free. 

Tuesday afternoon, I will be helping set up for the used book fair at the senior center in Columbia.  I hope to get there early Wednesday AM to pick through the books.  Last year I waited for the sale to begin and discovered that many people had come early and picked through the selection.  Maybe I'll do that this year.  Not that I need any more books, but still...I was going to say that one can never have too many books, but I'm not sure that is true!  I have a lot of books - maybe a thousand or more - but I'm trying to get rid of some.  I'm rereading one book from various authors and if I don't like it, I just dump all of them.  I will never have the time to reread all of them!

Next weekend (Saturday) is a Raku firing at Montpelier Arts Center.  It will be the last one I attend for a while.  I'm not signing up for the summer session and am not sure about the fall.  I love doing Raku, but I'm getting overloaded on pottery.  Guess I'd better find a place to sell some of what I have.  If I join one of the local potters' organizations, I can sell when they have a sale.  Maybe I'll do better than I did last weekend in southern Maryland.

Here are more fairy houses from Anne Marie Gardens.